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Track(s) taken from CDA67636

Piano Concerto No 1 in C minor, Op 89

composer
1887

Markus Becker (piano), Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Michael Sanderling (conductor)
Recording details: January 2008
Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin, Germany
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Simon Eadon
Release date: March 2009
Total duration: 15 minutes 34 seconds
 

Reviews

‘The busy piano-writing in these two world premieres is brilliant and passionate, the scoring [Jadassohn] is textbook 1887 and the musical structure inventive … Hyperion's A-team for concertos (Andrew Keener and Simon Eadon) is on top form, while the Berlin orchestra and Michael Sanderling provide crisp support for the sparkling and industrious Markus Becker who leaves the impression not only of having an affection for the three works but also that he has been playing them all his life’ (Gramophone)

‘Altogether an enjoyable disc for those who would explore the unfrequented byways of Romanticism’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘These pieces, which burst with … memorable tunes and lashings of showy arpeggios, are played with admirable swagger by Markus Becker and are a welcome addition to Hyperion's exhaustive study of the Romantic Piano Concerto’ (The Observer)

‘It's clear Becker really feels this music… and I have a feeling you'll want to go back and play it again!’ (American Record Guide)

‘There is much to enjoy here: the nobility of the second movement of the Jadassohn First, the bucolic energy of the finale of his Second, the rollocking finale of the Draeseke … Becker's confident playing and tonal richness make as persuasive a case for the music as could reasonably be expected’ (International Record Review)

‘Sonics are first rate, as usual with Hyperion. Let’s hear it for obscure piano concertos!’ (Audiophile Audition, USA)

‘Markus Becker delivers heroic accounts of all three concertos, and Michael Sanderling's Berlin musicians bring buoyant orchestral textures to the mix’ (International Piano)

‘Markus Becker's confident, technically adroit performances certainly make the best possible case for all three works, and he receives excellent support from Michael Sanderling and the Berlin Radio orchestra. Typically fine sound guarantees collectors of this series complete satisfaction, while novice listeners interested in good Romantic music should consider this strongly as well. Recommended without reservations’ (Classics Today)

‘The performances are all that one could expect, the music shown in the best possible light. Markus Becker is both virtuoso and musician’ (Classical Source)
Despite his basically conservative tendencies, the prolific Jadassohn was somewhat influenced by the music of Liszt and Wagner, nowhere more obviously than in his Piano Concerto No 1 in C minor Op 89 (1887), which forsakes the traditional organization in favour of an interlinked Introduction quasi recitativo, Adagio sostenuto and Ballade. In proportions this turns out to be very similar to Liszt’s first piano concerto, with a relatively perfunctory, improvisatory opening section, a more expansive slow section and then a finale which emerges as the most complex and prolonged movement of all, unfolding in the full sonata-form that the other sections notably avoided. A frenetically agitated coda rounds off this passionate and formally inventive piece.

from notes by Kenneth Hamilton © 2009

Malgré ses propensions fondamentalement conservatrices, le prolifique Jadassohn fut quelque peu influencé par Liszt et par Wagner, et rien ne l’atteste mieux que son Concerto pour piano no 1 en ut mineur op. 89 (1887), qui délaisse l’agencement traditionnel au profit d’une Introduction quasi recitativo, d’un Adagio sostenuto et d’une Ballade, tous liés. Dans ses proportions, l’ensemble s’avère fort similaire au premier concerto pour piano de Liszt, avec une section liminaire à l’improvisade, assez sommaire, une section lente davantage expansive, puis un finale qui apparaît comme le mouvement le plus complexe, le plus étendu, se déployant dans la pleine forme sonate notablement éludée par les autres sections. Une coda frénétiquement agitée clôt cette œuvre passionnée, formellement inventive.

extrait des notes rédigées par Kenneth Hamilton © 2009
Français: Hypérion

Trotz seiner im Wesentlichen konservativen Tendenzen war der fruchtbare Jadassohn dennoch etwas von der Musik von Liszt und Wagner beeinflusst, und nirgends deutlicher als in seinem Klavierkonzert Nr. 1 in c-Moll, op. 89 (1887), das die traditionelle Anlage (wie etwa bei Draeseke zu hören) zugunsten einer verknüpften Introduction quasi recitativo, Adagio sostenuto und Ballade aufgab. In seinen Proportionen erweist es sich Liszts erstem Klavierkonzert ganz ähnlich, mit einem flüchtig-improvisatorischen Anfangsteil, einem expansiveren langsamen Abschnitt und dann einem Finale, das sich als der komplexeste und längste Satz herausstellt, in dem sich die volle Sonatenform entwickelt, die in den anderen Abschnitten deutlich vermieden wird. Eine frenetisch aufgeregte Coda rundet dieses leidenschaftliche und formal einfallsreiche Stück ab.

aus dem Begleittext von Kenneth Hamilton © 2009
Deutsch: Renate Wendel

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